Putting the Breaks on Internet Child Porn

Child Molestation Resiliency or Crime, 2012

Abstract Adults who were sexually molested as children seem to manage, in varying degrees, the way in which they respond to having been victimized, both socially and emotionally. This paper explores some of the data and research on the topic of child molestation, offenders and/or resiliency to a life of crime for those who were victims of childhood molestation. The current research data pertaining to the effects of child molestation reported by The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), the Administra¬tion on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau (ACYFCB) and the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) along with other criminal justice studies provide astounding statistics. Some studies have found Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and repressed memory of the childhood victimization supports ongoing PTSD symptomology and may play a significant role in the lives of adult offenders. The legal community has questioned recovered memory (RCMP) and false memory syndrome (FMS) arguing for their accused clients that recovered memories can be falsified by suggestion. This paper questions if these repressed memories play a significant role in the lives of adults who were victimized as children?

Legal and Criminological Psychology, 2008

Recent research on recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse has shown that there are at least two types of recovered memory experiences: those that are gradually recovered within the context of suggestive therapy and those that are spontaneously recovered, without extensive prompting or explicit attempts to reconstruct the past. By focusing on well-known imperfections of human memory, we were able to find differing origins for these recovered memory experiences, with people recovering memories through suggestive therapy being more prone to forming false memories, and with people reporting spontaneously recovered memories being more prone to forgetting prior incidences of remembering. Moreover, the two types of recovered memory reports are associated with differences in corroborative evidence, suggesting that memories recovered spontaneously, outside of suggestive therapy, are more likely to correspond to genuine abuse events. In this paper, we summarize recent research on recovered memories and we argue that these scientific findings should be applied in the justice system, but also in clinical practice.

Journal of Psychological Science and Research, 2022

When referring to the issue of child sexual abuse, we are facing a situation of vulnerability for minors, who immediately require an interdisciplinary intervention that guarantees their emotional, physical, and social stability. However, it turns out to be a challenge for professionals in psychology, to be able to discern between a real argument of the alleged victim and a false memory established by external factors in the minor. It should be clarified that this article never tries to question, revictimize or not consider as real the minimum manifestation of sexual abuse by any person. This article highlights the importance of professional expertise when assessing a minor who has revealed alleged abuse. Multiple studies and publications have been carried out that refer to the implantation of false memories or recollections in people. Therefore, a conceptual, methodological, technical, and ethical review of the discrimination of memories by professionals in psychology is necessary.

Journal of Traumatic Stress, 1995

This study provides evidence that some adults who claim to have recovered memories of sexual abuse recall actunl events that occurred in childhood. One hundred twenty-nine women with documented histories of s m l victimization in childhood were interviewed and asked about abuse hktory. Seventeen years following the initial report of the abuse, 80 of the women recalled the victimization. One in 10 women (16% of those who recalled the abuse) reported that at some time in the past they had forgotten about the abuse. Those with a prior period of forgetting-the women with "recovered memories"-were younger at the time of abuse and were less likely to have received support from their mothers than the women who reported that they had always remembered their victimization. The women who had recovered memories and those who had always remembered had the same number of discrepancies when their accounts of the abuse were compared to the reports from the early 1970s. KEY WORDS child sexual abuse; memory; trauma recall. In the past several years there has been much controversy among both professionals and the general public about adults' memories of childhood trauma, especially delayed or recently recovered memories of child sexual abuse. The scientific debate has focused on the reality of repressed memories of childhood trauma (Berliner

Psychological Science, 2003

Previous research indicates that many adults (nearly 40%) fail to report their own documented child sexual abuse (CSA) when asked about their childhood experiences. These controversial results could reflect lack of consciously accessible recollection, thus bolstering claims that traumatic memories may be repressed. In the present study, 175 individuals with documented CSA histories were interviewed regarding their childhood trauma. Unlike in previous studies, the majority of participants (81%) in our study reported the documented abuse. Older age when the abuse ended, maternal support following disclosure of the abuse, and more severe abuse were associated with an increased likelihood of disclosure. Ethnicity and dissociation also played a role. Failure to report CSA should not necessarily be interpreted as evidence that the abuse is inaccessible to memory, although inaccessibility or forgetting cannot be ruled out in a subset of cases.

1992

Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 2006

In this article, the authors argue that a variety of psychological factors stand in the way of providing expert advice to the courts in terms of assessing the credibility of a complainant's account of sexual abuse when there is a significant delay in reporting. These include difficulties in assessing (a) the complainant's account of how he or she claims to have remembered or forgotten the abuse, (b) whether (and how) the claim of abuse originated within a therapeutic setting, and (c) the difficulty of generalizing from empirical evidence. It is argued that all of these issues can be more easily avoided if experts maintain a case-specific focus. In this article, the authors review both the psychological and legal controversies surrounding the false-recovered memory debate, discuss how courts approach the admissibility and use of recovered memory testimony, and conclude that expert witnesses should carefully consider the above points before drawing general conclusions from the literature and applying them to individual cases.

2008

Defined in hazy terms by Freud and bereft of attention for a century afterwards, the concept of repression suddenly gained public prominence in the 1980s, at the same time that child sexual abuse (CSA) was finally achieving widespread recognition as an important societal problem. However, despite its public and therapeutic popularity, a convincing scientific case still has not been made for the existence of repression. Recent research establishes that some of the techniques used by therapists to aid in recovering sexual abuse memories can cause a third of people to 'remember' events that never happened to them. Lastly, we have known since the 1880s that human memory is capable of substantial and rapid forgetting: no special mechanism is necessary to explain cases in which people forget trauma, and also sometimes forget that they have previously told others about it. We conclude by noting how research that disputes the existence of a special mechanism -repression -and cautions against using techniques that may lead people to confuse imagination with reality have been misinterpreted as suggesting that sexual abuse should not be taken seriously.

Journal of Traumatic Stress, 1995

Selective literatures providing perspective on recall of childhood sexual abuse memories are reviewed. These include known patterns of autobiographical memories in adulthood, metacognitive mechanisms, interpersonal influences, and automatic cognitive processing which can influence judgments and reports of memory recall in children and adults. Some factors in adult experience such as mood state, presence of emotional disorders, past and current relationships, and participation in psychotherapy which can influence autobiographical memory and recall of childhood events are delineated. Available studies direc@ exploring recovered memories of childhood abuse are considered in light of these studies. Finally, some applications to clinical work and suggestions for future research are outlined.

Child Abuse & Neglect, 1998

Objective: To explore the prevalence of, characteristics of, and factors associated with forgetting of childhood sexual abuse memories in a large non-clinical sample (N ϭ 1712). Method: Using an anonymous survey, we asked respondents about (a) the nature and severity of their childhood abuse; (b) the continuity of their abuse memories; and (c) their experiences with others suggesting to them that they might have been abused. Results: A substantial minority of victims in our sample reported having temporarily forgotten their childhood sexual abuse. Forgetting was largely unassociated with victim or abuse characteristics. Compared to individuals who always remembered their abuse, however, individuals who temporarily forgot were more likely to report that someone had suggested to them that they might have experienced abuse. Those who received such suggestions were particularly likely to suspect that they may have experienced childhood sexual abuse that they do not yet remember. Conclusion: Forgetting may be less common than implied by earlier estimates from clinical samples, yet it is not uncommon. Also, a sizable minority of the population is wondering whether they have experienced unremembered abuse, and these suspicions are linked to having encountered suggestions from others. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding the phenomenon sometimes labeled repression.